‘This is Not What I Expected’ Yields Unexpected Box-Office Earnings of Over 100 Million Yuan

The title of Zhou Dongyu’s latest movie best describes what just happened to the film. “This is Not What I Expected” surprised Xu Hong Yu, the director, because the film earned more than 100 million yuan in box office since it premiered on April 27.

The other unexpected blessing for the film about a 29-year-old chef working at a western restaurant in a hotel is that it got an 8.9 out of 10 rating from the audience on Maoyan, a Chinese movie information platform, China Plus reported. Zhou’s character, Shengnan, meets the new boss of the hotel, Lu, played by Takeshi Kaneshiro who is picky and arrogant.

However, even if the two have different personalities, they still bond because they love to eat. Zhou Dongyou, lead actress of the film, is considered by the Chinese audience as a representative of chick films.

International Language of Food

In a review of the movie, The Washington Post wrote that while the bulk of the dialogue in “This is Now What I Expected” is in Mandarin, the goofy romantic comedy movie still delivers because it used the international language of food. Lu hates the placed but loves Shengnan’s European, Chinese and Japanese meals.

But Lu only likes her cooking, not Shengnan’s personality which the hotel owner dislikes. In turn, the talented chef also does not like a lot of things about her new boss. Besides the interesting characters, the film has a soundtrack heavy on Bob Dylan.